LONGMONT -- Dacono's dispensaries now have a little more than six months to leave town.

On Monday, the Dacono City Council voted 4-2 to ban all medical marijuana businesses from town by Jan. 1. The move will close three dispensaries: Dacono Meds, Mary Jane's Medicinal and The Green Door.

"It's my opinion that the city of Dacono can't effectively and efficiently regulate this particular service," Mayor Charles Sigman said prior to the vote. "I don't think we'd be doing anybody any favors by trying."

As the vote came down, owner Brad Henson of Dacono Meds erupted.

"Can I have my money back?" he shouted toward the council. He estimates his company has paid $57,680 since 2009 in sales tax and donations. "You all have your hand out for money and then you ban me!"

"I can't believe you guys are so unkind!" a woman in the audience added before a police officer gave a warning and both left.

Outside, Mary Jane manager Julia Mauer was calmer, but had no doubt what the next step would be.

"Start drafting a petition," Mauer said. "Get it to the people. Make it so the people can decide."

Dacono has regulated dispensaries since 2009, although it's had a moratorium barring new ones since 2010. Frederick and Firestone adopted bans of their own in 2010, leaving Dacono as the only one of the Tri-Towns to permit the business.

The vote was identical to the 4-2 first reading vote in May, with councilmen Kevin Plain and Steve Bruno opposed.

Councilwoman Lori Saine, who voted for it, thanked the dispensaries for being good neighbors but said she was concerned about rising numbers of suspensions and expulsions for drug violations statewide.

"Something about this experiment is not working well, and I think it's enforcement," Saine said. With the state cutting personnel and support, she said, that threw the burden onto local authorities, who weren't prepared to take it.

"Three dispensaries is a lot for one small town," she said.

Much of the night's public testimony was from patients, businesses and supporters asking the city not to close the doors.

"Do you need more? No," said disabled veteran Mark Zinn of Fort Lupton. "I would say continue the moratorium. But you do need the ones you have."

A prominent local business owner agreed.

"I personally would rather not have any in our community, but that is not the point," Dacono chiropractor and former Firestone mayor Mike Simone wrote in a letter to the council. "The point is you don't destroy a small business that spent thousands of dollars to open, has operated legally, and has contributed to the local economy with jobs and tax revenue."

Economic development director Jennifer Krieger said Dacono had seen little help or direction from the state's medical marijuana enforcement office.

She called the businesses a burden on the city that had no place in Dacono's development policy and said patients in need could possibly get their medicine delivered, which would also deliver sales tax to Dacono.

Consultant Kristen Thomson said afterward that delivery wouldn't be an option. State law allows that only for patients who are completely homebound.

Bruno, in opposing the measure, said the council should be letting the voters speak their own mind.

"Odds are, (the ban) will get put into place," he said. "But there have been exceptions."

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